Sinking of the HMS Chulbark
The sinking of the Valruzian Navy frigate HMS Chulbark ''occured on May 13, 3395. The ship was returning from a diplomatic mission to Kazulia, when, in an attack carried out by two Dranish vessels without government permission, the ''Chulbark ''was struck by an anti-ship missile, and went down after the resulting fire cause a massive explosion in the ship's cargo hold. All twenty-four men on board were killed. The sinking of the ''Chulbark ''sparked a major international crisis, especially after the Dranish Navy salvaged the wreck without Valruzian permission. A Valruzian embargo was imposed upon Dranland, and war almost resulted from the incident. It resulted in the establishment of the Dranish Peregrine Commission, with is engaged in an ongoing investigation into the sinking. The diplomatic crisis has now largely abated. Incident At 0952 on May 13, 3395, the Valruzian frigate HMS ''Chulbark strayed into Dranish territorial waters, as the ship's GPS system, controlling its autopilot was faulty. This was the result of minor damage resulting from a power surge two days prior to the sinking of the Chulbark, when the vessel had been struck by lightning in a storm. The RDS Comares, a Dranish frigate in the vicinity of the Chulbark, attempted to contact the Chulbark twice, but both attempts failed as the Dranish crew was using the wrong radio frequency. This was because the commanding officer of the Comares, Commander Tsuguhiko Hiramatsu, was relying on the memory of a fellow crew member instead of referring to the Dranish Navy-issued booklet of radio frequencies. At 1002, the Chulbark ''left Dranish territorial waters, only to stray back into Dranish waters five minutes later. The ''Comares ''once again attempted to make contact to identify the ''Chulbark. When the Chulbark ''once again failed to identify itself, Commander Hiramatsu contacted the nearby Bryn Mawr Naval Base. He was subsequently informed that a nuclear-armed vessel of unknown nationality was though to be in the area, according to National Intelligence Agency information. Over the next quarter of an hour, the ''Comares ''attempted to contacted the ''Chulbark ''three times, without success, as the radio frequency being used by the Dranish vessel was still incorrect. Concerned that the still-unidentified vessel could have hostile intentions, a fear exacerbated by the belief that it was nuclear-armed (it was conveying nuclear weapons, but had no means of delivering them), Commander Hiramatsu decided to attack the ''Chulbark. At 1030, thirty-eight minutes after the Chulbark first entered Dranish territorial waters, the Comares ''launched an anti-ship missile against the Valruzian vessel. One minute later, it exploded in an air blast just above the aft deck of the ''Chulbark. The damage was serious, killing three crew members, but not severe enough to destroy the ship. The Chulbark ''immediately broadcast a distress signal. Minutes later, the fast attack craft X-1893 (fast attack craft are not given a name in Dranland; they have only a code) arrived on the scene to investigate the nearby explosion. The crew of the ''Chulbark, having just been attacked by a Dranish vessel, feared that the X-1893 had arrived to continue to attack, and fired on the fast attack craft, which returned fire. Both vessels used machine-guns. Eight Valruzian crew members were killed, as they had been force to use weapons onthe exposed deck by the spreading fire below. At 1036, the crew of the Chulbark ''realised that the fire was spreading too quickly to be contained, and that the vessel would quickly be destroyed by the explosion of its cargo of ordinances, which were stored in the cargo hold. They were correct: several minutes after the began to abandon ship, at 1042, the explosive cargo detonated, blasting the ship into several pieces. Six were killed. However, there were still seven survivors from the ''Chulbark. Unfortunately, in contravention of Dranish military regulations, the crew of the X-1893 failed to come to their assistance, and instead continued to fire upon them. Four Valruzian seamen were killed by the machine-gun fire, while the other three drowned in the turbulent seas as they attempted to swin for shore. Two days after the attack, on May 15, the bodies of nineteen of the twenty-four men on board the Chulbark ''washed up on the Hulstrian coast. The Valruzian government was quickly informed of their deaths, which were soon connected to the sinking of the ''Chulbark. The five men whose bodies had not yet been found were correctly presumed dead. Diplomatic Crisis Peregrine Commission Shortly after the sinking, it was decided by the Dranish government to establish a National Commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. This commission was established on August 20, 3395, and officially labelled the? ''National Commission on the Sinking of the Valruzian Naval Vessel HMS ''Chulbark. It consisted of the following members: *Talfryn Peregrine - Chairperson; former Director of the National Intelligence Agency *Claudia de la Rosa-Valero - Vice Chairperson; foreign policy advisor to several governments *Delyth Baynham - foreign policy expert, specialises in Valruzian military and foreign affairs *Charlotte Coburn - Telecommunications expert, former Director of Northwest Air Traffic Control Centre *Archibald Edwards - Naval warfare expert, former Vice Admiral in Dranish Navy *Izumo Hayashida - International law expert, former Senior Prosecutor for Elbian government *Cadfan Heilyn - Aerial warfare expert, former Major General in Dranish Air Force *Peter Lawrence - Professor of Psychology, specialises in combat psychology *Dominic McGowan - Armaments and weapons systems expert, former CEO of major defence contractor *Arnau Pedroso-Banderas - Forensic expert, specialises in ballistics, former Chief Detective in Gogledd Pwynt? Police Deparment *Julia Restrepo Santana - Maritime transportation expert, former member of Transportation Accident Investigation Commission *Diana Seward - Professor of Political Science, foreign policy analyst *Hisashi Tamazaki - Armaments and weapons systems expert, specialises in military computer systems *Gennosuke Tanuma - Legal expert, former National Court of Appeals judge *Dafydd Woosnam - Coroner and doctor, former Chief Coroner in Iglesia Mayor It was informally called the Peregrine Commission after its Chairperson Talfryn Peregrine, or the Sinking Commission after its subject matter, by the media and public. The investigation would take until January 3397 to complete. Category:Dranland Category:Valruzia